The Island
by HalfBloodDragon
Summary: There isn't much Skye can do when her ship goes down and her team is captured. But if there's a way to rescue them, she'll find it. After all, she's an Agent of SHIELD. And whether she wants it or not, a certain Agent of Hydra will do anything to keep her safe. Set after 2x05.
1. A Rough Landing

Skye's hands pressed up against the dirty glass of the window, admiring the rolling waves stretching so endlessly on either side of the banged-up old freighter. Beyond that, the silhouettes of small islands dotted through the water. She wiped the fog of her breath away to peer intently at the passing dots of land.

"You think Hydra's hiding out on one of those?" Skye asked. "Canada's got way more islands than I thought. And all of them look freezing, not tropical."

Coulson stepped behind her, glancing out the same window with a small smile. "And we get to find out which island." For once, his standard suit was nowhere to be seen. Instead, he looked every inch the grungy ship's captain that their cover required.

Lance gestured with the glass in his hand toward the nearest island. "And hopefully we find out with our radar before _they _find out how far we are from the nearest shipping route."

As one, all eyes turned to the final member of their team. Fitz blinked hard. "I don't, I mean I'm working-"

"That's my department, actually," Skye cut in. Watching Fitz struggle was already too painful. She spun her laptop so the rest of the team could see her screen. "I've had radar pinging this whole time, but so far? Nada. Not even a blip on that super secret Hydra channel."

Coulson nodded, taking it in stride. "We'll move the moment anything changes. Until then..." He stared pointedly at Skye.

Instantly, she recoiled. "No way. He already said he didn't know anything about this base."

Raising a single eyebrow, Coulson didn't bother saying anything further.

Skye gestured futilely at her computer. "But radar! And pinging!"

Lance ambled over, bending down to squint at the display. "So if anything shows up, it'll beep." He watched Skye skeptically. "I think this non-hacker here can handle that for a few minutes. Hurry back though, I might die of boredom."

Muttering under her breath, Skye stomped off toward the stairs down to the lower deck. Only two steps down the narrow steel stairway, frantic beeps burst from her computer.

Lance leaned forward. "The bloody hell-?"

An explosion slammed into the side of the ship. It knocked Skye off her feet, tossing her into the wall of the stairwell. She felt nothing, only blackness.

...

Sound was the first to return. Only brief snatches of voices filtered through to her. They sound angry, she realized. Why would they be angry?

Her head swam as it finally cleared a bit. A square of light above her was all she could see. Nothing about it made any sense.

Lastly, she felt her body. A shallow puddle of freezing water lapped against her sides. One arm sprawled, twisted behind her. Something sharp bit into the other. Skye tilted her head to look, but it lolled bonelessly from her neck. Squinting, she could finally make it out. A step dug into her arm. Now her surroundings made sense. She was lying at the bottom of the stairs, looking up. The light came from the stairwell up to the bridge, where the angry voices were. Still, the step dug into her arm, grabbing her attention.

A simple matter to solve, she thought. Inch by sluggish inch, her arm moved. At least it still responded. Her arm flopped off the step, clanging against the metal floor.

Instantly, the angry yelling from atop the stairs cut off. "There are others?" a deep, humorless voice asked. After receiving no response, something smashed. The crunch of bones was lost amid a yell of pain. _Coulson. _

"SEARCH THE SHIP!" the humorless voice bellowed.

Instantly, a strong hand clapped her mouth shut. "Try not to struggle," he whispered. His words were wasted. Had she been capable, she would have fought for her life. As it were, she writhed as far as her recovering body would let her.

Grant Ward didn't seem to notice. He draped her over his shoulder, dropping both of them through a breech in the hull of the ship.

She never even felt the water, instead slipping back into unconsciousness.

...

A familiar voice filtered through over the rhythmic slapping of the waves. "Come on Skye, stay with me. You've had a concussion, don't you dare fall asleep..."

But her body instantly disobeyed the doctor's orders.

...

Something hard hit her face. "Skye!"

Instantly she jerked awake, spluttering and coughing seawater up onto the hard, rocky beach.

Next to her, Ward let out a deep sigh of relief. "You scared me there for a second."

Everything came back to her in a rush. She yanked her knife out of her boot, skittering backwards across the rocks. Dripping wet and chest heaving, Ward raised his hands in surrender. Burns and scratches showed through tears in his prison garb.

"Get the hell away from me," Skye snarled.

"Absolutely," he calmly agreed. "You won't even know I'm there."

Anger poured through her veins. "_What?_"

Still infuriatingly calm, Ward shrugged. "Whether or not you can see me, I'm still going to do everything I can to keep you alive."

She gritted her teeth. "I don't get any say in the matter?"

"I will follow any orders you give me." His eyes met hers with all the seriousness he could muster. "But you can't stop me from protecting you."

Skye shuddered. "I could tie you up."

She'd been joking, but Ward held out his wrists anyway. "I don't have any rope," she muttered, looking away.

With a resigned nod, Ward stood, walking toward the treeline.

"Stay."

The single word from Skye stopped him cold. He turned, shocked.

Skye's face was icy and unflinching. "I want you where I can see you."

Unsure how long his leash was, Ward sat, carefully far out of arm's reach.

She gestured to the smoking remains of their ship, slowly sinking nearly a mile away. "What do you know about the people that attacked us?"

He squinted where she pointed. "Not much. That was a torpedo that hit us, so they clearly have heavy defenses. I'd guess Hydra, since we know they're close by. After they grabbed Coulson and the others, their boat docked back on this island."

That would make it nearly a mile that Ward swam, injured, and carrying her unconscious body. Skye stuffed the thought aside. "Did you see where the boat headed?"

"Somewhere around the back of the island. I don't know precisely where."

Skye stood, stretching her aching limbs. Her left arm still felt like limp spaghetti. "Good. Then we know which way to head."

"Skye…" Ward started, but she rounded on him.

"You have something to say, prisoner? Not up for following my orders if it means helping _other_ agents? People who _aren't _me?"

A frown creased his brows. "I was going to say that it'll be dark and cold faster than you can imagine on an island like this. We need to find shelter."

She looked at him in puzzlement. "They give you survival training in Hydra? I thought their goons were expendable."

"Not Hydra: Garrett." Ward's mouth drew tight. "We really need to find shelter before the sun goes down. If you don't want to, that's fine. I'll-"

"What kind of shelter?"

He looked around. Tall Canadian pines covered the island with dense underbrush growing between. Even now, with the sun well above the horizon, a light fog settled. "A cave, preferably. If we can't find that, I can make thick tree cover work. But we'll be exposed if any patrols come searching."

"Got it. Caves, lots of trees, I can handle that."

Ward raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you're planning on splitting up."

"I…" The words died in her throat. With no supplies, no way to contact each other, and a very high likelihood of being caught by a Hydra patrol, splitting up was about the best way to ruin any advantage they had. Her stomach writhed that she even considered Ward getting caught a bad thing. But right now, she'd be stupid to throw away her best asset. "Nope. Lead on, Hydra."

...

Coulson squinted as the bag was yanked off of his head. Light flooded in, assaulting his senses. That was probably the point, he noted dryly. Being tied to a chair facing a flood-lamp tended to do that to prisoners. His nose felt broken, its dried blood caked across the lower half of his face. It wouldn't be the first time.

A silhouette stepped in front of the light, far too heavily-muscled to be reassuring. "Your team had one more member. Where is he?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Coulson fought to hide his relief. He didn't know what fate awaited Fitz or Lance, but Hydra didn't even know the slightest detail about Skye. And if he had to have an agent out there...well, he'd pick May. _Second_ to May...he'd pick Tripp.

But Coulson had faith in Skye.

Still nothing more than a silhouette, the smile of his interrogator gleamed. "Your agent has an 0-8-4 on him. Hydra will stop at nothing to get it back."

Despite himself, Coulson returned the smile. His agent _was_ the 0-8-4. And that 0-8-4 wasn't about to go down without a fight.

* * *

><p>Thanks for reading, I'd love to know what you think! :)<p> 


	2. Hitting the Ground Running

The sun approached dusk by the time Skye and Ward found shelter that he deemed suitable. It wasn't a full cave, closer to a hollowed out embankment. But a stream gurgled past only a few feet away. And if they burrowed deep against the packed dirt of the back wall, thick brush hid them completely from view.

Ward nodded with satisfaction. "It'll do. Get some sleep, I'll be back in an hour."

Skye stretched to her full height. "Not a chance. I don't trust you out of my sight."

"Skye." About to put a hand on her shoulder, he caught himself. The hand dropped to his side. "You were knocked unconscious, which means you have a serious concussion. If you don't wake up every hour you could slip into a coma." He pointed at her wristwatch, its display shattered in the explosion. "Unless that works far better than it looks, we don't have an alarm clock. So I'll take first watch and keep checking back on you."

Skye shuddered. "I don't know if I can sleep knowing you're watching me."

Ward frowned, his eyebrows knitting together in a mixture of hurt and concern. "Whatever else you may think of me, you know I would never hurt you, right?"

A snort burst from her. "I know you'll do anything short of it. Including selling me out to Hydra if they promise you they'll give us safe passage. Oh wait," she mockingly added, "You already did that. With Garrett. Who was willing to watch you _die_, by the way." She smiled viciously. "So yes, please continue telling me why I should trust you. I haven't heard a good joke in a long time."

Ward looked away, unable to respond. Eventually, he managed, "I'll hunt for food while you sleep. And you have my word that I won't communicate with Hydra in any way."

Skye shrugged. "Why don't you get me a water skiing moose while you're at it? I believe in them as much as I believe in you."

"What else would you have me do?" Ward threw his hands in the air. "We have to sleep in shifts. Tell me what you want me to do while you're sleeping and I'll do it."

_I want you to find the nearest bridge and jump off it, _she barely resisted saying. But with her not wanting him near her and not trusting him out of her sight, what options did she have? "Go hunt for food," Skye bit out, unable to look at him. "You'll find a way to betray me with either plan. Might as well be useful."

He disappeared into the trees without another word.

Skye curled into the embankment, pine needles piled beneath her and shrubbery on top of her for warmth. At least her clothes had dried on their hike. Without blankets, she could only hope to keep from freezing. Warmth was a distant dream.

Dreams themselves were not as distant. It had been a long, taxing day, and her body cared more about having a concussion than it did about Ward. She dropped peacefully off into sleep.

It seemed like only seconds later that Ward started calling her name.

"Skye, I'm going to touch your shoulder if you don't wake up."

She snapped awake. "Don't you dare."

Despite himself, he smiled. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three," Skye scowled. "Now two, now four."

"What's your name?"

"You literally just said it ten seconds ago."

"Humor me. You've had a concussion."

She sighed dramatically. "_Skye_. Happy now?"

"Nearly. Count backwards from 100 by 7s."

Skye threw her hands in the air. "I couldn't do that _without_ a concussion!"

Amusement tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Alright. I'll be back in another hour."

And he was. Five more times he returned to play new rounds of Aggravate Skye with Dumb Questions.

Skye stretched, done with her fitful sleeping. Stars shone through the inky blackness surrounding their embankment. Without risking lighting a fire, only the faint moonlight showed them as more than silhouettes. "Ok, my turn. What did you find?"

Ward sketched a lumpy oval in the ground. "We're here, on the south-west corner. I spotted a few patrols as I went farther east, so my guess is that the Hydra base is in the north-east corner, roughly 10 miles across the length of the island."

"Of course it is," Skye muttered.

"As for food," He gestured to a pile of berries and leaves. "This is all I found. I can't catch meat with my bare hands and I can't risk leaving traps that would lead Hydra right to our doorstep."

She looked at the pile of food with a growing sense of indebtedness. She'd never have known any of it from weeds or poison. Already, she'd have died three times over without him.

"Eat, Skye," Ward said softly. "It isn't much, but you'll need your strength."

"Yeah, ok." It came out weak without the usual anger. "It's your turn to sleep. I'm going to go explore for myself."

He lay down, watching her closely. "Be careful. I spotted a few trip wires when I was out."

Perfect. There was little Skye hated more than a trip wire. May kept drilling her in how to spot and avoid them, but it had yet to stick.

After scarfing down a few handfuls of the _very _organic salad, she headed out.

Creeping through the dark shadows of the forest, Skye made sure to favor caution over speed. A single misstep could get her caught and end all hope of rescue for her team. Every few feet, she blew on her hands to keep them warm. Should she run into trouble, cold, stiff fingers would be the last thing she wanted. Especially when only carrying a knife.

"Why are freezing cold islands even a thing?" she muttered to herself. "Tropical. So much better."

A clearing broke through the trees. Instantly, May's training kicked in. Skye fought down the urge to dash through the open space. Instead, she checked even more closely for traps.

A thread of wire gleamed in the moonlight. She grinned, stepping gingerly over it. Skye: 1. Trip wire: 0.

Specifically, Skye hunted for movement. Twice she froze, dropping to the ground for what turned out to be a rabbit. The third time, she heard voices.

They mumbled indistinctly through the forest ahead. Slowly, she crept forward, thankful that she was much better at stealth than trip wires.

At least wearing all black at night gave her good camouflage. The two Hydra goons strolled lackadaisically along, unconcerned with any threat SHIELD posed. Skye felt personally offended.

It was all too easy to keep up with them and out of sight.

"What do you think of those new agents?" the nasally one asked the other.

Skye's heart thudded in her chest. She held her breath for news of Coulson, Fitz, or Lance.

"New recruits are all the same," the deeper one replied. "Too eager to earn more badges and collect SHIELD scalps. I'm just hoping they brought better rations with them. If I have to eat another strip of rock-hard jerky, I'll riot."

Skye doubted Ward's salad could tempt him.

The nasally one snorted. "No you won't. It's still better than the bread they _used_ to give us."

Jerky Hater spat. "You got that right."

They continued their patrol in silence. Skye was about to give up and resume her recon elsewhere when Jerky Hater chuckled. "SHIELD agents, huh? Who'da thought?"

Now her heart really did jump.

The nasally one laughed. "And to think they were coming here to hunt _us!_"

The other man joined in laughing. Skye didn't find it the least bit funny.

"And that one twerp, calls himself an agent." At Nasally's silence, Jerky Hater continued. "You know, twitchy and the like. Kid's barely got any marbles left to rattle."

"Ah, that one. Haven't been on guard duty yet, but I've heard stories. You know why we're still bothering keeping him around?"

"Nope. All I know is he's being shipped back to central. Him and the merc. The Big Bosses want them for something."

_WHEN?!_ Skye mentally screamed. She strained closer to keep from missing a single syllable.

Nasally snorted. "Hate to be them."

Jerky Hater chuckled softly in admiration. "Still can't believe we landed the Director of SHIELD himself. The intel he must have locked away inside? What I wouldn't give to be the one who cracks him!"

"You and me both!" Nasally agreed. "Say hi to him for me, will ya?"

Jerky cracked his knuckles. "With pleasure."

Boiling fury rose up inside Skye. That they could _joke_ about torturing the closest thing to a father she'd ever known? Her fingers tightened on the dagger's hilt. With the element of surprise and fury stoking her veins, she could probably take both of them.

_What would May do? What would May do?_ She asked herself repeatedly, trying to pierce the fog of her rage.

The thought calmed her enough to get some distance from her plan. Hydra had guns. If either of them fired a good shot _before _she took them out...

Or if it didn't go utterly perfectly and she only managed to _maim _one of them...

Then every single SHIELD agent on this island was as good as dead.

Through gritted teeth, Skye fought her anger down. Not now. Soon, she vowed. And if Fitz and Lance were being transferred off the island, then very soon.

As she let the Hydra agents walk away still breathing, a new plan came to her. Skye liked it far less than strangling them outright, but it had a higher chance of success. Much higher, if she were being honest with herself. And that was the difference between feeling good that she'd _tried _to rescue Coulson and _actually rescuing him._

Her shift's six hours came to a close. Skye barely kept herself from racing (trip wires!) back to the embankment. The worst step in the plan came next and dread automatically slowed her feet.

The first tinges of dawn lit the sky as she crept under the embankment. Ward slept peacefully on, looking slightly ridiculous covered in branches and pine needles. He must have been exhausted not to have woken up already.

"Ward," Skye whispered. Instantly, his eyes shot open.

She braced herself for the worst part.

"I need your help."


End file.
